Much Ado About Margaret: A Novel by Madeleine Roux

 Margaret Arden yearns to live like the passionate and daring women in her novel. The idyllic life at Mosely Cottage with her two younger sisters and mother is fine, but Margaret wants more than the demure and dainty existence she’s known. After a particularly brutal rejection from an annoyingly attractive publisher, Margaret fears being forced into marriage to protect her family if their financial situation doesn’t improve—until her cousin’s glamorous wedding masquerade brings her onto a collision course with scandal, notoriety, and even love. 

Captain Bridger Darrow is starting over after fighting for his country. Now home, he is struggling to save his family from destitution and succeed in a new venture of passion: book publishing. It’s all going rather poorly, until he stumbles upon loose pages of an astonishing novel while in attendance at his dearest friend’s wedding. Bridger knows he must publish it. But upon meeting the author, Bridger is stunned to discover that he—she—is a woman, and he has already told her off in grand fashion.

While Bridger is keen to gain her trust and rescind the initial rejection, Margaret can’t help but be skeptical of his intentions. Sparks fly between the two, just as the wedding of the season starts to descend into chaos when a masked dance leads to a case of mistaken identities. 

This reminded me of Bridgerton combined with Pride and Prejudice. Enemies with their prides prickled and making assumptions about the other. I didn’t like it as much as I was hoping. Mainly I didn’t like it because I absolutely hated Margaret’s aunts. There are also some points where the characters and their actions, or reactions, seem over the top or go by a little too quickly, which feels a bit like whiplash. 

I did enjoy that each chapter started with William Shakespeare quotes. I felt it was connected the author to Margaret more. The fact that, while Margaret is a coward to her aunts, she still continued to investigate the mystery. There is no Margaret Arden without books, which made her relatable to me.

Overall, I rate this novel 3.5 out of 5 stars.